Look at the Birdie: Short Fiction

ISBN-13: 9780385343725 / Angielski / Miękka / 2010 / 272 str.

Jr. Kurt Vonnegut

Opis

Look at the Birdie is a collection of fourteen short stories from one of the most original writers in American fiction. This series of perfectly rendered vignettes, never before published in Kurt Vonnegut's lifetime, reveals a warm, wise, and funny portrait of life in post-World War II America--a world where squabbling couples, high school geniuses, misfit office workers, and small-town lotharios struggle to adapt to changing technology, moral ambiguity, and unprecedented affluence. Featuring a Foreword by author and longtime Vonnegut confidant Sidney Offit, Look at the Birdie is an unexpected gift for readers who thought that Vonnegut's voice had been stilled forever--and serves as a terrific introduction to his short fiction for anyone who has yet to experience his genius.

Recenzje

The fourteen stories in Look at the Birdie, none of the afraid to entertain, dabble in whodunnitry, science fiction and commanding fables of good versus girls. Why these stories went unpublished is hard to answer. They re polished, they re relentlessly fun to read, and every last one of them comes to a neat and satisfying end. For transmittal of moral instruction, they are incredibly efficient delivery devices. Dave Eggers, The New York Times Book Review
 
[Look at the Birdie] brings us the late writer s young voice as he skewers sometimes gently, always lethally post World War II America. . . . These stories recall not only a vanished time but also an almost extinct writing style: direct, funny, and free of slickness. The Boston Globe
 
Vonnegut s wry and whimsical spirit lives on The Daytona Beach News-Journal
 
In a perfect world, this would be the sort of thing people would line up for at midnight. New York
 
Why these entertaining little tales were never published before is a mystery. Perhaps some magazine editor was going through a mental breakdown when the stories showed up in the mail. Or perhaps Vonnegut stuffed them into a sock drawer and forgot them. Whatever the case, they are without exception fun to read. . . . A throwback to the days when American readers expected magazines to publish engaging stories. The Roanoke Times
  
Occasionally from the nation s cultural attic come rare finds, like this wondrous new collection of Kurt Vonnegut short stories. . . . Reading Look at the Birdie is a bit like watching TV s Mad Men, with the added knowledge that the stories are of their time, not re-creations. The mastery evident in these early stories provides a precious glimpse of a writer finding his wings in the years before he soared. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
 
Vanity and mendacity had better watch out, because their dearest enemy remains among us, still cheerfully kicking their butts. So it goes. The Washington Times
 
An instructive view of Vonnegut s talent in the making. Publishers Weekly
 
When reading these stories, even with their blemishes, the biggest thrill is the knowledge that this young author would later produce some of the most innovative and memorable books of the twentieth century. San Francisco Chronicle

O autorze

Kurt Vonnegut s humor, satiric voice, and incomparable imagination first captured America s attention in The Sirens of Titan in 1959 and established him as a true artist (The New York Times) with Cat s Cradle in 1963. He was, as Graham Greene declared, one of the best living American writers. Mr. Vonnegut passed away in April 2007.

Sidney Offit has written two novels, two memoirs, and ten books for young readers. He was a senior editor of Intellectual Digest and a book editor of Politics Today, and for three decades he has served on the boards of the Authors Guild and PEN American Center. Currently, Mr. Offit is the curator emeritus of the George Polk Awards in Journalism. He lives in New York City with his wife, Avodah.